Chicagoans volunteer to help their neighbors
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Christina Rivero, who serves on the Local School Council at McPherson Elementary, handed out whistle kits Wednesday morning in front of the Ravenswood school. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios
Last Friday morning, dozens of community members formed a human chain of safe passage around Chappell Elementary School in Bowmanville to support students and their families who could be vulnerable to ICE apprehensions.
Why it matters: The Chappell chain reflects one of the many small scenes playing out daily across the city on school sidewalks, in church dining rooms and at community centers full of neighbors helping neighbors.
Zoom in: Axios recently visited a church gathering where volunteers packed 700 packets with whistles and instructions on how to use them for Chappell and other North Side schools with large immigrant populations.
- We asked folks there and those on school safe passage teams why they thought it was essential to be there. Some preferred to use only their first name to avoid being targeted, they said.
What they're saying: "I came out because we can't wait for someone to save us; we have to help each other now," Michelle of Ravenswood said.
- "I volunteer to help with food security in this area and see a number of neighbors, some who may be documented but others who aren't. If this is what it takes to protect them, I'm gonna be here," Dan of Uptown said.
- "With the onslaught of social media, it can feel like you're helpless, with an overabundance of information and not enough things to do, which fascism wants," Caroline of Ravenswood said. "But this is something small that taps you into a community and where you know it's specifically going to help someone, so it's also helpful to yourself."
- "My son is in fifth grade here [at McPherson] and it's just important for us to create a safe, friendly community that he can grow up in. We love the city of Chicago and don't believe in what's going on with ICE and want to do our part to combat it," Michael Elliott of Ravenswood said.